stab most monstrously their owne bodies with Daggers or such like instruments of death all which men woulde seeme to haue great courage in susteining many harmes so long as their mindes were not ouermastred But when the diuine and supreame Essence which they acknowledged did by his power crosse and ouerturne their witty deuises and headstrong attempts so as without hope of remedie they were hampered in pensiuenes and sorow of minde then beeing not able to turne themselues vnder so heauy a burthen they shrunke down and by violent death woulde ridde themselues of that disquietnes and impatiencie of their troubled mindes But let vs come nearer and whether wee behold the Papists or the Familie of loue or the common sort of Christians wee shall see they will passe quietly through many afflictions whether for that they haue a spirite of slumbring or numbers cast vppon them or whether because they haue brawned themselues through some senceles blockishnes as men hewen out of hard Oakes or grauen out of marble stones I know not But yet when the Lord shall let loose the cordes of their consciences and shall set before their faces their sinnes committed see what a fearfull end they haue whilst some of them by hanging themselues some by casting themselues into the water some by cutting their owne throates haue rid themselues out of this intollerable griefe Nowe wherein is the difference that some dye so sencelesly and some dispatch them selues so violently Surely the one feeling no sinne depart like brutish Hogs the other surcharged with sinne dye like barking Dogs But let vs come to the children of God who haue in some degree felt this wound of minde and it will appeare both in the members and in the heade of all burthens to bee a thing most intollerable to susteine a wounded Conscience And to begin with let vs set in the first ranke Iob that man of God coÌ„mended vnto vs by the holy Ghost for a myrrour of patience who although for his riches hee was the wealthiest man in the land of Huz for his authoritie might haue made afraid a great multitude and for his substance was the greatest of all the men in the East Yet when the Shabeans violently tooke away his cattell when the fier of God falling from heauen burnt vp his sheepe and his seruaunts when the Chaldeans had taken away his Cammels when a great winde smote down his house vpon his children although indeed he rent his garments which was not so much for impatiencie as to shewe that he was not vnsensible in these euils Yet it is saide that hee worshipped and blessed the name of the Lorde saying Naked came I out of my mothers vvombe and naked shall I returâ—e thither againe The Lord giueth and the Lord taketh away Blessed be the name of the Lord. Howbeit beholde when at the strange conference of his comfortles friends his minde began to be agast which was not so in all his former tryall when his conscience began to be troubled when he saw the Lord fasten on him sharp arrowes and to set him vp as as a Butte to shoote at when hee thought God caused him to possesse the sinnes of his youth this glorious patterne of patience coulde not beare his griefe he is heauy now may commende to all the Image of a wounded spirite that shall come after Dauid a man chosen according to the Lords owne hart Ezekiah a pure worshiper of God and carefull restorer of pure Religion Ieremiah the Prophet of the Lorde sanctified and ordained to that Office before hee was formed in his mothers wombe were rare and singular in the graces fauour of God yet when they felt this wound piercing them with griefe of hart they wer as Sparrows mourning as Cranes chattering as Pellicans casting out fearefull cries they thought themselues as in the graues they wished to haue dwelt solitarily they were as bottels parched in the smoke they were as Doues mourning not able without sighes and grones to vtter their words their harts cloue to the dust and their tongues to the roofe of their mouths But aboue all if these were not sufficient to perswade vs in this doctrine there remaineth one example whom we affirme to be the perfect anatomie of an afflicted Conscience This is the Lord Sauior IESVS CHRIST the Image of the father the head of the body the myrror of all graces the wisedome righteousnes holines and redemption of all the Saintes who susteined the Crosse euen from his youth vpward and besides pouerty basenes hunger did willingly goe vnder the great trouble of contempt and reproch and that among them where he shuld haue had a right deserued honor in respect of the Doctrine he taught them and in regard of the manifolde myracles wroght among them as the healing of the sicke the giuing sight to the blinde the restoring of life to the deade This vnkindnes neuertheles did so much strike him as at what time hee was set as a Sacrifice for al when he was to beare our infirmities carry our sorrowes at what time hee was plagued and smitten of God humbled and wounded for our transgressions when hee should be broken for our iniquities the chastisement of our peace was vpon him then he cryed out My soule is heauie euen vnto the death Then hee prayeth Lord if it be possible let this Cup passe from mee But how prayeth hee euen with sweating howe sweateth hee euen droppes of blood how long prayeth hee Three times when ends his agony not vntill he was dead What saide hee beeing ready to depart My God my God why hast thou forsaken mee Was this for his humane death as some haue imagined No no wicked men haue died without coÌ„plaint whose patience them might seeme to exceede his it was his suffering in his humane Spirite which incountred with the wrath of God his Godhead suppressing it self for a while he suffred indeede many torments in body but the wrath of God did much more lye vpon his soule If this consideration of an afflicted spirit in these examples doe not sufficiently shew what a grieuous thing it is to susteine a wounded Conscience Let us proceede to the comparing of this with other euills which fall into the nature of men There is no sickenes but Phisicke prouideth for it a remedy there is no sore but Chirurgery will affoorde it a salue Friendship helpeth pouertie There is no imprisonment but there is hope of libertie Suite and fauour recouer a man from banishment Authoritie and time weare away reproch But what Phisicke cureth what Chirurgerie salueth what riches ransome what countenance beareth out what authoritie asswageth what assault dismaieth a troubled Conscience All these banded togeather in league though they wold conspire a confederacie cannot help this one distresse of a troubled minde And yet this one comforte of a quiete minde doth wonderfully cure and comfortably asswage al other griefes whatsoeuer For if our assistance were as an host of
diseases of the soule no man abateth his sleepe no man abridgeth his diet no man prepareth Phisicke for it no man knoweth when to be ful and when to be emptie how to want and how to abound Others carried away with the loue of riches and verie nigh to fall into pouertie will not sticke to rise early to take sleep lately to fare hardly to teare taw their flesh in labour by lande and by water in faire soule weather by rockes and by sands from far from nere and yet to fall into spirituall decaies to auoyd the pouertie of conscience no man taketh such paines as though saluation and peace of mind were not a thing worthy the labouring for Some ambitiously hunting after honor not easilye digesting reproaches behaue themselues neither sluggishly nor sleepely but are actiue in euerie attempt by loue and by counsell by prudence and prowesse by wit and by practise by labour and learning by cunning and diligence to become famous and to shun a ciuill reproach yet to bee glorious in the sight of God and his Angells to fall before the heauens and in the presence of the Almightie to bee couered with shame and confusion of conscience we make none accompt as they who neyther vse anye meanes to obteyne the one nor auoyde those Occasions which maye bring the other Others verie vnwilling to come within the reache and daunger of the Lawe that they may by reading get experience howe to escape imprisonment of bodye or confiscation of goods wyll be painfull in penall statutes skilful in euery branch of the ciuill law and especially will labour to keepe themselues from treasons murthers fellonies and such like offences of life and death yet where the Lord God threateneth the seazure both of soule bodie the attaching of our soules the confiscating of our consciences the banishing of vs from heauen the hanging of vs in hell the suspending of our saluation the adiudging of vs to condemnation for the breache of his Commaundements few men sercheth his eternall Lawe few men careth for the Gospell neither the sentence of euerlasting diuorsement from the Lord neither the couenant of reconciliation is esteemed of vs. And to reache our Complaint one Degree farther The more we seek outward pleasures to auoyde the inward trouble of minde the more we hast and runne into it and wee speedely plunge our selues in a wounded spirite or wee be a ware Who posteth more to becom rich than the merchant man who hopeth lesse to become pore than hee that aduentureth great treasures who hazardeth his goods who putteth in ieoperdie of his life and yet suddenly he either rusheth vpon the rocke of hardnesse of heart or else is swallowed vp of the gulphe of a despairing mind from which happely he cannot be deliuered with a ship full of golde Woful proofe hath confirmed how some men whollie set on plesures such as could not away to be sad and hedged vp alwaies of godly sorrowe haue had their tables made snares and euen theyr excesse of pleasures hath brought excesse of sorrowes and whilest they laboured to put the euill daye farre from them they haue vsed follyes that haue beene the most bitter and speedie hang-men of their fearfull trembling consciences There be some of another sort who neuer dreaming of a troubled minde haue had their harts set on nothing but howe they might get some great fame and renowme therfore haue slipt into such vaineglorious attempts and foule flatteries as they haue not onely lost the peace of their Consciences but also fallen most deeply into reprochfull shame which they sought to shun Now therefore as the peace of conscience and ioy of minde is such a treasure as the eye hath not seene the eare hath not heard nor the tung expressed but passeth al vnderstanding as they only knowe what the peace of minde meaneth that feele it so they alone can in trueth speake of a troubled minde that haue tasted of it by experience But let vs shew what way is to be vsed to keepe vs from this wound of the spirit It is the vse of Phisicke as to cure vs of diseases when wee are faln into them so to preserue vs from sicknes before it hath takē hold of vs it is the power of the Word as to asswage the trouble of Conscience when it doth once presse vs so to preuent it before it hath ouertaken vs. It is a chiefe point of worldly wisedome not to tarie for the vse of phisicke vntil we be deadly sick but to bee acquainted wyth Gods mercifull preseruation to defend vs from it likewise it is a chiefe pollicie of a godly Christian not only to seek comfort when the agonie is vpon him but also to vse all good helpes to meet with it before it comes And if we condemn them of folly who will not as well labor to keep themselues out of debt as to pay the debt when they owe it so it is a madnes not to bee circumspect to auoyd all occasions which maye bring trouble of mind vpon them as wee would bee prouident to enter euerie good waye which maye drawe vs out of this trouble when wee haue once entred into it These remedies preseruatiue are first the searching of our sinnes the examining of our faith The examining of our sins is either the due acknowledging of our sinnes or the true sense and feeling of our sinnes The acknowledging of our sinnes is eyther of those that bee past whether wee haue vnfeinedlye repented vs of them or of those which bee present whether wee be truely greued for them Thirdly of those secret corruptions which in the course of our life are likely to come whether wee are reuerently afraide of them and resolue to suppresse them with all our indeuour Concerning sinnes past we must call to minde the sinnes done of old in our youth in our middle age in our olde age iudging our selues we maye not bee iudged of the Lorde that accusing of our selues sathā haue no occasiō to accuse throwing down our selues before the Lord he may lift vs vp For manie going quietly away and sleeping in carnall securitie notwithstanding the sins of their youth neglecting to make conscience of their sinnes done long ago sodainly haue falne into such horrour of minde that the violent remembrance of all their sins surcharging them they haue been ouerwhelmed This Examination then dooth rightlye proceede when it doth reach to the errors of this life to the sins of our youth because many men euen from their childhood by a ciuill righteous life hauing escaped grose sins wherewith the world could neuer charge them haue not withstanding caried the burthen of more secret sins done in their youth Dauid Psal. 25. 7. prayeth the Lord not to remember the sinnes of his youth Iob 23. 6. the man of God confessing that the Lord writeth bitter things against him saith he made him to possesse the iniquities of his youth What shall
one sinne then dooth pursue thee rest not onelye therein but saye thus rather to thy selfe Oh Lord is thys one sinne so grieuous and dooth my God punnish thys one sinne so soarely Howe great then should be my punishment if thou shouldest O Lord so deale with mee for al my other sinnes I haue committed Let vs learne to haue a sense both of generall and of perticular sinnes least in tyme our griefe passe away wythout frute whilest that beeing not displeafed as well wyth one sinne as with another we either looke too superficially to generall and not to perticulars or els too superstitiously obserue perticulers and not the generals Concerning those sinnes whereunto we are tempted as when a man is mooued to think blasphemously of God the Father or to doubt whether there be a Christ or no or to imagine grosely of the holy Ghost or to deny God or to doubt of the Trinitie to be mooued to murther adultrie or such like in which temptations he feeleth Gods spirit to check him for them so as he knoweth not in thys case what to doo for that on the one side he dares not listen willingly to these fearefull and monstrous temptations and on the other side he feareth least in time by long sute he might fall into them or at the least yeeld for that he seeth not how to be deliuered frō them I suppose these motions are not so much to bee disputed with as we by them are to be prouoked to more instant and zealous praier Surely these are dangerous temptations and therefore are not to bee kept cloase which our nature will easely encline vnto but perticularly are to bee confessed of vs. For the diuel will come somtime to thee to keepe thee still in a generall acknowledging of thy sinne and vrge on this manner Surely thou must needes doo this sinne thou seest thou canst haue no ease vntill thou hast assented thou art ordained to it the reason why thou art thus incessantly tempted is because thou doost not take thy pleasure Go too delay not denie God beleeue not his word it is but a pollicie to keepe men in awe Religion is no such matter as men make it Thus for feare of yeelding on the one hande and for shame of disclosing the tentations on the other hande many men haue pined away and almost haue beene ouercome by them If we should disclose this say these men what would people say of vs They would count vs Atheists they would thinke vs the wickedst men in the worlde Well for our instruction and consolation herein Let vs learn that these kind of tentations are either corrections for some sinnes past or the punishment of sins present or forewarners of some sin to come Wee shall see many tempted to adultery who now no doubt cannot bee be brought to commit it and yet because in their youth they haue committed it and not repented of it it coms to them againe The like may bee obserued in theft in gluttony and in other tentations which are not so much sent vnto vs presently to ouercome vs as to put vs in mind that hertofore we hauing bin ouercome with them should now repent for them Sometime a man shall lye in some sin wherof when he will not bee admonished neither by the priuate nor publike meanes then some strange tentation shall fall vpon him differing from that wherein he presently lyeth to admonish him of that other sinne As when a worldling shal be tempted to adulterie a thing which hee hath no desire to do yet it is to make him look to his worldlines whereof he hath so strong and through a lyking Whereas if then he will not bee awaken he may sodainely fall into that too and so by the punishment of GOD in punishing one sinne with another both his sinnes shall bee to his great shame laid open and one sin shall make knowne another Sometime also it commeth to passe that one shall bee tempted with such a sinne as neither heretofore nor presently hee hath giuen any liking or entertaignement vnto and yet the Lord by it may forewarne him how hee may fall into it hereafter as also to shew that hee hath stoode all his former life rather by the grace of god than by the strength of flesh and blood Wherefore when thou art moued to doubt of God and of Christ of the word or of iustification doo not so much stande woondring at these strong tentations as thinke with thy selfe that it is the mercie of God by them to cause thee better to discerne of those tentations in others Wherefore thou shouldest haue obserued with feare trembling howe they make the first entry into a mans heart howe they gather strength howe they agree with our corrupt nature in what degrees they come to some growth how the spirite of God dooth resist them what bee the meanes best to preuaile against them And thus if thou make thy profite by them thou shalt so woonderfully search and descrie by seuerall veines the body age and sleight of these tentations in others by an holy experience which GOD hath taught thee in others that besides thou shalt lay foorth mens secrete corruptions as if thou wast in their bosomes thou shalt be able by the seed of sorrowe in thy selfe to beget an vnspeakeable ioy in others who in time may bee tempted to sin as thou nowe art Thinke moreouer and besides that such is the efficacie of sinne that they who are nowe no Papistes Heretiques Adulterers or Theeues may for their secure contemning and passing ouer these tentations sent vnto them sodainely shortly after fall into them because they woulde not seeke to make some vse of them nor confesse before the Lorde both their pronenesse and worthinesse to fall into them But if wee will humble our selues in such tentations and learne by them meekely to discerne the corruption of our hearts we shall not only presently deliuer our selues from imminent perill but bee also further enhabled to assist others hereafter in the like danger But some wil oppose against these things which wee haue deliuered Doo you thinke it a remedie to cast downe them that bee already humbled this is rather to bee a Butcher than a builder of a mans conscience To whom I answere that I desire Preachers to be Builders and not Butchers and it is one thing generally to apply and another perticular to lay the medicine vnto the wound It is good to begin with searching first to purge the sore by the vineger of the Lawe and after to supple it with the oyle of the Gospell Both which must bee done in wisedome vsing them to some in greater to some in lesser measure For as some hauing nothing but a decay of nature and no mortall humor neede rather restoratiue than purging medicines So some rather troubled for spirituall wants than for grosse sinnes needes not so much the threatninges of the Lawe as the sweete promises of the Gospell But if
the body thorough some extraordinary repletion hath gotten some great surfet not so much to the weakening of nature as to the threatning of imminent death and therfore requireth rather some strong purgation than comfortable and cordiall medecines then the soule also being brought to some extraordinary sinne is rather to bee boared and pierced with the denouncing of Gods iudgement thā otherwise But because wee woulde deale more plainely lesse confusedly it is good in our accesse to the afflicted consciences to lay these two grounds First we must perswade the persons humbled that their sins are pardonable their soules curable And after that this visitation is not so much a signe of Gods wrath and anger as a seale of his loue and fauour in that it is not either blind or barren but plentiful in good effects and fruitefull in Godly issues The former howe needefull it is the experience of so many as haue beene throwne downe is a sufficient witnes who haue had this as a tagge tyed in their tentations The Lord wil surely make an end of them in some strange and vnknown tentation Wherein they are not vnlike vnto men fallen into some dangerous disease who thinking to bee without the fadome of the Phisitians skill and not to bee within the compasse of thinges recouerable adde a second and sorer griefe vnto their former Wherefore as these men seeme to bee halfe healed when any man of knowledg can bee brought who by experience hath cured the like malladie in like degrees in others So then the fearefull soules are not a little by hope refreshed and strengthned to looke for some ease when they see none other tentation hath ouertaken them thā such as hauing fallen into the nature of man haue found mercie at the handes of God that hee might bee feared This ground worke framed it is good to build vp and repaire the decayed ioy of the minde partly by the Law to make a preparatiue for these ioyes if the minde not truly humbled is not fit truly to be comforted and partly by the gospel if the conscience kindly throwen down is become a fit subiect to apply the promises of Iesus Christ vnto it And here againe to answere thē that denie the law wholly or at all to bee vsed when we wold breed comfort in one I demand whether if it be necessary to maintaine the righteousnes of Christ it bee not also as necessarie to preserue the righteousnes of the Law Seing the righteousnes of the Law of vs not fulfilled wyll drawe vs vnto the righteousnes of Christ to vs imputed And sith the righteousnes of Christ to vs imputed is neuer throughly and truly esteemed vntil we see the righteousnes of the law of vs to be vnperformed Again if our Sauior Christ did fore shew his Disciples that the first worke of the holy Ghost at his comming should bee to conuict the world of sinne to make men know that without Iesus Christ ther is nothing but sinne and then that he shuld rebuke the World of righteousnes that they might see Christ died not for his owne but the sins of others I see not why it should not be very conuenient first to lay opē the righteousnes of the law that men maye see their sins and then the righteousnes of Christ that men may see their sinnes discharged in him Besides wher the Lord saith by his Prophet At vvhat time soeuer a sinner dooth repent of his sins from the bottom of his hart I vvill put all his vvickednes out of my remembrance that it may well be gathered there must be a sound sorrow for sin going before and then the true ioy of sinnes pardoned may the more frely be looked for afterward Moreouer seeing al the promises of God in the gospel are cōmended vnto vs vnder the title tenor of restoring sight to the blind hearing to the deafe strength to the lame health to the sicke and life to the dead it is manifest not onely that there is no disease of the soule that Christ cannot heale but also that wee must first finde our selues blinde deafe dumbe lame sicke dead before he wil meddle with vs because they that are whole need not the Phisition and he came to call sinners not the Righteous to repentance Now to doo this in wisedome by neither pressing the conscience too seuerely nor releasing the conscience more vnaduisedly it shalbe the safe way to vse the wel tempered speech of the Apostle to the sorcerer Repent if it be possible thy sinnes may bee forgiuen thee Where hee dooth not wholly discourage him because it may bee his sins may be pardoned neither yet too boldly incourage him that without repentance he sheweth it altogether impossible to be pardoned And that we be not too preposterous in our consolations let vs bee warned by the blasphemous speeches of the detestable Arrian who of late yeares was put to deth at Norwich This hellish heretique a little before he shuld be executed afforded a few whorish tears asking whether he might bee saued in Christ or no When one told him that if he truely repented he shuld surely not perrish hee brake out most monstrously into this speech Nay is your Christ so easily to be intreated indeede as you say Then I defie him care not for him Oh howe good a thing had it been not to haue cast this pretious stone to this swine Oh how safe had it bin to haue dealt more bitterly and dwelt more vehemently on the conscience of this caytise Now to attaine some discretion in curing this wounded spirite wee must learne wisely to iudge both of the person afflicted and of the nature of his affliction First we must note whether it be a man or a woman becaus we may vrge more carefully the vse of the law to a man as hauing the stronger vessell And as Sathan knew the woman to be most easie and frameable to be wrought vppon at his first temptation so is hee not ignoraunt that shee is the weaker partie to susteine an accusation Then let vs consider whether they that are thus humbled haue knowledge or no Because if they haue none they thinke trouble of minde to be so strange a thing as neuer any before it if they haue knowledge then Sathan is readie to accuse them of sins agaynst the holye Ghost as though anie sin done against knowledge were a sinne of presumption Farther we are to enquire how strong or weake they are that if they be not sufficiently wounded to touch thē with some deep sense of sinne Also we must be circumspect to finde out whether by nature they are more fearfull or melancholy or no As also whether they be vsuall sinners or haue faln once of infirmitie that so vppon their disposition and inclination we may builde our speech the better To these it is good to adde this consideration of the persons age estate and ability as if the partie bee troubled for worldlinesse whether hee bee not a
Knowe also God can cause wolues lions leopards to dwell louingly with lambes calues and kids and that that is vnpossible to men is possible with god euen to cause a cable to go throgh a needles eie that is to change the hard hart of the vnbeleuing couetous man much more yours yea knowe that all things are possible to him which beleeueth Cry then I beleeue O Lord help my vnbeliefe I dare promise ye in the name of Iesus Christ that you shall haue your heartes desire in goodnes Thus abruptly I must end commending you to God and the word of his grace which is able to builde you vp giue you the right of inheritaunce among them that are sanctified The verie God of peace sanctifie you throughout that your whole spirit and soul and body may bee kept blamelesse vntill the comming of the Lord Iesus Christ. Faithfull is hee which hath called you which will do it Amen I pray you pray for me I trust as I haue so I shal pray for you and much more Yours in Christ Iesus to vse in anie need R. G. AN OTHER COMfortable Letter by Master R. G. BRother beloued in the Lorde and Sauior IESVS CHRIST seing you haue had hertofore not onely knowledge but also experience of Gods gratious and mercifull goodnes in Iesus Christ your owne vnbeliefe and Satans subtlenes I coulde meruaile why you should giue such place and not keepe your grounde no surer if I were not much acquainted with such occurrences I know not therfore whether with wordes of rebuke or comfort I shoulde seeke to releeue you Because I cannot come vnto you my counsell and desire is that you woulde come vp to London the next Tearme at the farthest that so I might aske of God to frame my speeche according to your good In the meane season I bessech you call vnto mind that which you cannot be ignorant of that in the lawe sacrifices were offered for Gods people not onely at their first entrance into couenant with the Lorde but also afterwards many times and that not onely by ignorance but also by error that is forgetfulnes frailenes retchlesnes carelesnes c. It is manifest that the sinne of errour is there opposed against the sinne committed with an hie hande that is to blaspheme with contempt of GOD and making his Law of none effecte but to bee in vaine Which sinne I am sure you are most farre off from I would you were as farre off from vnbeliefe and distrust that Gods children may fall into diuers foule faultes as it may appear by many proofs First in the Lawe when the Lord speaketh in his Maiestie and proclaimeth his glorie yet in howe many wordes commendeth he his mercie and for howe many seuerall sorts of sinnes in Exodus the twenty foure Chapter sixe and seauen verses Doth not Esay the holy Prophet call the people of his daies the people of Gomorrha and and their Princes the Princes of Sodome Doth not he accuse them as grieuous transgressors both of the first and seconde Table Esay the first Chapter ten and eleuen verses c. And yet dooth afterwardes promise them in the eighteenth verse that though their sinnes were as crimson they shalbe as white as snow though they were redde like scarlet they shall be as wool Dooth hee not charge them that they were sunke deepe in rebellion and yet exhorteth them to returne vnto the Lord Esay the thirty one Chapter and sixth verse Yea doth he not charge them not onely with rebellion but aâ—so with vexing the holy spirit of of God Esay sixty three and tenth verse And reade what is written Esay nine eleuen Pray as there you may learn Esay tenth Cha. fiue sixe c. What dooth not the holy Prophet Ieremy in the thirty one Chapter and the eighteenth nineteenth and twenty verses shew that Ephraim was an vntamed Calfe c. yet so soone as hee mourned and was ashamed of himself doth not the Lord shew that his bowels of mercie were troubled for his estate Doth not the Lord offer mercy vnto the prophane and forgetfull transgressours of his holy couenant Psalme fiftith from the fifth verse to the two and twentith Is not this part of the couenant made with all the sonnes of Dauid in Iesus Christ that if they not onely omit many good thingeâ— also committe rebellions and iniquities that though hee may visit them yet it shall be with the rodde of his children and that his mercie hee will not take from them nor breake of his couenant made with them in Iesus Christ. Therefore remember that the holy promises threatnings and examples are written that we should not sinne but if any man sinne we haue an aduocate with the father Iesus Christ the iust and he is the reconcilliation of our sinnes and not for our sinnes onely but for the sinnes of the whole world Doth not the blessed Apostle Paule charge the Corinthians whoÌ„ he affirmeth in the first Chapter to bee rich in Christ and destitute of no spirituall gift to be more carnall than spirituall yet babes in Christ yea to bee falne into idolatry coÌ„mitting of euill thinges fornication tempting not onely of God but of Christ yea murmuring against them yet doth hee not herein comfort them that no temptation hath taken hold on them but such as appertaineth to man and that God will bee mercifull vnto Dauid prayeth against presumptuous sinnes that they should not raigne ouer him Psalme ninetenth Chapter thirteenth verse Signifiyng though he sinned presumptuously yet if hee did not perseuer in presumption obstinately without desire to repent that such sinne or sinnes were pardonable Nowe the Lordes couenant towards his in Iesus Christ is not to deale after their sinnes not to rewarde them after their iniquities much lesse will hee not regard in wrathfull displeasure their infirmities But if he should so marke what is saide or done amisse who were able to abide it But with him is mercie in Iesus Christ that hee may be feared therefore lift vp your handes which hange downe strengthen your weakknees and say vnto your soule why art thou so cast downe and so vnquiet within mee I will yet trust in Iesus Christ and wait vpon the mercifull graces of God purchased by his mercies Consider that true humillitie ariseth of faith in Iesus Christ and that is true faith that ingendreth humillitie as wee may not diminish our sinnes so may wee not too much aggrauate them nor diminish Christs merits haue euermore in your minde the examples of the prodigall son who saith not I am not thy sonne but I am no more worthy to be called thy sonne he saith not let me bee thy bondslaue nay hee saith not let me be thy hyred seruant but as one of thy hyred seruants his father came and met him fell on his neck c. So shall it come to you good brother I neede make no more aplication the holy annointing which you haue receiued will bring the olde mercies of God vpon others and vppon your selfe vnto remembrance and lead you into all truth which shall bee requisite for your saluation Put your trust in the Lord you shall prosper The Lord Iesus came not to breake the brused reede nor to quench the smoaking flaxe his grace shall bee euer more sufficient for you and his vertue shall vnto the end manifest it selfe in your weakenes Nowe therefore I beseeche him to preserue your body soule spirite vnto his most glorious appearing Faithfull is he that hath called you and promised you who will performe it Amen Yours in Iesus Christ as he hath beene Richard Greeneham Sweet and sure signes of Election to them specially that are brought low A cleering of iudgement by conceauing of the truth and true meaning of the Scripture making for vs or against vs. A rebuking of sinne in wardlie a pouertie of spirit fioÌ„ thence and a mourning therefore A being cast downe in our own conceipt and a meeknesse to beare our owne punishment thereby wrought An hungring after the righteousnes which is in Christ and a praising and esteeming it aboue all earthly things A musing vpon and a desire to thinke and speake onely of heauenly things A conflict of the flesh spirit and therin by praier practise the force of the spirite euer breathing out A sowing into the spirit by vse of the meanes as by the word praier c. A purpose vnfayned vppon strength receiued of vowing ones selfe wholly to the glorie of God and health of his brethren A resignation of our selues into Gods hands An expecting of the daily increase of the hope of our souls health and our bodies resurrection The forgiuing of our enemies An acknowledging of our offences with our whole heart whiles we are sicke and a verie dooing of it indeed when we be recouered A delight in Gods Saints A desire that after death the Church of God may flourish and haue all peace A spirit without guile that is an vnfained purpose alwaies to doo well how soeuer our infirmities put vs by it FINIS